The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) standard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) rule require that some U.S. industrial gas facilities comply with these regulations. For the purpose of this publication, the OSHA PSM standard refers to Title 29 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR) Part 1910.119, “Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals,” and the EPA RMP rule refers to Title 40 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR) Part 68, “Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions.”

This publication defines the criteria that may be applied to industrial gas facilities to evaluate the scope and extent of application of the PSM standard and the RMP rule. This guidance document also:

• explains how the PSM standard and the RMP rule apply to processes commonly found in the gas industry;
• defines criteria that can be used to determine if a process is covered by the PSM standard or the RMP rule;
• establishes a basis for determining reasonable boundaries of covered processes;
• explains the major differences between the PSM standard and the RMP rule; and
• explains the exemptions allowed under each regulation.